La Llorona: The Crying Woman

By Rudolfo Anaya and Amy Córdova

La Llorona, the Crying Woman, is the legendary creature who haunts rivers, lakes, and lonely roads. Said to seek out children who disobey their parents, she has become a "boogeyman," terrorizing the imaginations of New Mexican children and inspiring them to behave. But there are other lessons her tragic history can demonstrate for children. In Rudolfo Anaya's version Maya, a young woman in ancient Mexico, loses her children to Father Time's cunning. This tragic and informative story serves as an accessible message of mortality for children. La Llorona, deftly translated by Enrique Lamadrid, is familiar and newly informative, while Amy Córdova's rich illustrations illuminate the story. The legend as retold by Anaya, a man as integral to southwest tradition as La Llorona herself, is storytelling anchored in a very human experience. His book helps parents explain to children the reality of death and the loss of loved ones.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Release date: Aug 24, 2011
• ISBN: 9780826344625

Rudolfo Anaya

Rudolfo Anaya is professor emeritus of English at the University of New Mexico. He has received numerous literary awards, including the Premio Quinto Sol and a National Medal of Arts. He is the author of the classic work Bless Me, Ultima, which was chosen for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Big Read. Anaya’s other books for adults include Tortuga, Heart of Aztlan, Alburquerque, Rio Grande Fall, Shaman Winter, Jemez Spring, Serafina’s Stories, The Man Who Could Fly and Other Stories, and Rudolfo Anaya: The Essays. His children’s books include Farolitos of Christmas, My Land Sings, Elegy on the Death of César Chávez, Roadrunner’s Dance, and The First Tortilla. Bless Me, Ultima was adapted into a feature film in 2013. Anaya resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Book preview

The Crying Woman

La Llorona

Rudolfo Anaya

Illustrations by Amy Córdova

Translation by Enríque Lamadríd

University of New Mexico Press

ALBUQUERQUE

© 2011 by Rudolfo Anaya

Illustrations © 2011 by Amy Córdova

Spanish translation © 2011 by University of New Mexico Press

All rights reserved. Published 2011

Printed in China

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Anaya, Rudolfo A.

La Llorona: the crying woman / Rudolfo Anaya;

[illustrations by] Amy Córdova; [translation] Enrique R. Lamadrid.

p. cm.

A revised, bilingual version of the author’s 1996 adaptation

entitled Maya’s children.

Summary: In ancient Mexico, beautiful Maya’s children

are endangered by the threat of Señor Tiempo who,

jealous of their immortality, plots to destroy them.

ISBN 978-0-8263-4460-1 (cloth: alk. paper)—

ISBN 978-0-8263-4462-5 (electronic)